More people are living and designing in this old Indy mental hospital site

Posted:Aug 23rd, 20174:30 pm

Excerpt From IndyStar.com

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - Heidi Lofton enjoyed renting in historic Woodruff Place on the east side for the past three years, but when it came time to buy a house, she and her husband wanted something different.

This is kind of a millennial stereotype but I’ll lean into it: We’re not that interested in owning an old house,” said Lofton, a 28-year-old interior designer. But the couple didn’t want the cookie-cutter suburban experience either.

“We wanted something that’s cool and unique,” said Lofton, who in April bought one of the first new homes on the west-side campus of the former Central State Hospital.

From Downtown, drive past White River State Park and the Indianapolis Zoo for two miles — the same distance between Monument Circle and Fall Creek — to find an unlikely hub for the creative class: What was first known as the Indiana Hospital for the Insane and now the home of the quirky Indiana Medical History Museum.